The same thing that "made" them immigrate to America! Opportunity! Both N. America and S. America had languages foreign to them, so the issue was the same. At the turn of the century S. America, especially Argentina having the 7th largest economy in the world. had growing economies. http://www.usatrade.gov/Website/CCG.nsf/CCGurl/CCG-ARGENTINA2002-CH-3:-00539 126 As to why people left the old Austro-Hungarian Empire was mostly economic, as the A-H Empire was slow to industrialize. Immigrants coming to America could make more in a week than they could in a month or more in the old country. American companies sent recruiters to various parts of the A-H Empire to find "cheap" labor, many arranging for travel to America. Also some left for political/social reasons, this is particualarly true in the case of Slovaks and Croatians. The Hungarian Crown was attempting to Magyarize (Hungarianize) those lands, IE language, schools, etc.. This did not sit well with either group. The Croatians had varying degrees of autonomy or self rule since the Pacta Conventa was signed around 1100 AD. That agreement formed a union with Hungary, with the Croatian Nobility electing the King of Hungary as King of Croatia. In fact Croatia was a Kingdom with in a Kingdom, being known as the Triune Kingdom or the Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia. The number of immigrants to America from A-H Empire totaled around 4 to 5,000,000 from late 1880s to the beginning of WW I, 1913! Perhaps among the most famous of those immigrants was inventor Nikola Tesla (from Smiljan near Gospic). If it weren't for Tesla we would need more electric generating plants than we have now. Edison contended for DC electricity while Tesla AC. Good for us that Tesla prevailed. George Westinghouse became a wealthy man from Telsa's inventions. Tesla was incredible never marrying, sleeping only about 2 hours each night and experimenting the rest of the time. In his later years Tesla became quite social visiting many of the immgrants from what had become Yugoslavia. He was also phlianthropic during those later years sponsoring some of his fellow countrymen in the US, such as Fritzie Zivic the boxer. http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jul/tesla.html Well this is a bit off topic. Sorry about that. http://www.croatia-in-english.com/rj/index.html Robert Jerin ----- Original Message ----- From: "SHAWN FOGARTY" <fogdryer@msn.com> To: <CROATIA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, May 06, 2002 3:41 PM Subject: Re: [CROATIA-L] Translation Help what made them emmigrate to SAmerica & Brazil of all places?????????? ----- Original Message ----- From: Frank Kurchina Sent: Monday, May 06, 2002 1:32 PM To: CROATIA-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [CROATIA-L] Translation Help John and Helene Ennor wrote: > > This was posted to the Rootsweb Croatian message board and I need help translating it. > > Mi abuelo se llamaba Mateo Yure Krsticevic ,vino a la Argentina en 1927 .Era el menor de los hermanos nacio en > PLINA (DALMANCIA) . > > Thank you. > Helene Ennor > ennor@cfu.net > > Researching: Ennor, Kristovich, Lemke, Durgan Buenos días, Many Croatians emigrated to South America, especially to Argentina, where Spanish is spoken and Brazil where Brazilian-Portuguese is spoken. Spanish Mi abuelo se llamaba Mateo Yure Krsticevic , vino a la Argentina en 1927 . Era el menor de los hermanos nacio en PLINA (DALMANCIA) . English My grandfather was called Mateo Jure Krsticevic, came to Argentina in 1927. He was the (minor) youngest of the brothers born in PLINA (DALMACIJA) Plina (Istoc^na Plina) is located 202 miles SSE of Zagreb. Now located in Splitsko z^upanija (county) The Croatian telephone directory lists 20 surnames Krstic^evic' under Split (C) Spalato (I) The directory also lists 3 surnames Kristovic' (Kristovich) under Split. Expect this is another surname ? v Frank Kurcina